Mr George Soros, one of the world's best known investors, yesterday announced his withdrawal from large-scale and aggressive hedge fund investing after bets on high technology stocks and the euro rebounded to produce losses of 20 per cent in its high-flying Quantum fund.

The man who helped trigger the pound's withdrawal from the European exchange rate mechanism in 1992 and was accused of having helped to precipitate the 1998 Asian crisis, said: "We are bringing an epoch to an end." After 31 years of achieving an average annual return of 30 per cent, Mr Soros said: "We are telling our shareholders that if they stay with us they should not expect comparable returns in the future. Our large macro bet days are over," Mr Soros said.